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Roman was in class during coloring time. He was coloring a picture of a lion, and he was staying inside the lines, which he was pretty proud of. He glanced up and saw Remus walking towards him. He rolled his eyes and focused on coloring again. He was making the lion’s mane rainbow and had to stay focused on it.
"We have to be friends now," Remus said.
"What, why?" Roman put his crayons down, looking at Remus confused.
"Because our dads are dating, so we're basically brothers and we have to be friends."
"That's not true. Boys can't date boys."
"Yes they can. Your dad is dating my dad, my dad said so."
"It's not true, your dad is a Liar McLiarson."
"Nuh-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
Mr. Dorman overheard the two and came to put a stop to it before he had to pull them apart. "What's going on over here?"
Roman looked up and pointed at Remus. "He says that his dad is dating my dad, but that can't happen because boys can't date other boys, right?"
Mr. Dorman closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knelt next to the two. "Roman, tell me why you think that."
"Well, because a prince has to end up with a princess. It's how all the Disney movies go."
"Okay. Well, you know how you were a princess for Halloween?"
Roman nodded. "I was Rapunzel!"
"And remember how Mrs. Gircphays didn't want you to be a princess because you're a boy?"
"Oh. Yeah."
"It's kind of the same thing. Just because people don't show boys dating boys doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Even I like boys."
Roman's eyes widened a little. "You do?"
Mr. Dorman nodded with a soft smile. "Yup."
"So what about my dad dating Remus's dad?"
Mr. Dorman shrugged. "I dunno. That's something you'll have to ask your dad about."
"Do I have to be friends with Remus?"
"You have to at least be nice to him."
Roman pouted. “I guess.”
Patton walked into the gym as play practice was supposed to end. They were rehearsing in costume, but not quite onto hair and makeup yet, so Roman was on stage in his little lion outfit looking absolutely adorable.
“And I just can’t wait to be king!”
Patton smiled as he stood by the rest of the parents waiting for their kids. He could hear Roman belting the last line of the song over the rest of the ensemble, and he didn't even have a microphone.
It wasn’t that much longer before Janus walked in, smiling a little as he stood next to Patton.
Remy looked back and saw the parents there. “Alright, great guys! We’re gonna call it quits for the day, but tomorrow be ready to practice the whole thing!”
The kids gave a variety of reactions from cheers to groans, and Patton smiled as Roman ran up and wrapped his arms around Patton’s legs.
“How was practice, kiddo?”
“It was good, I think I did good.”
Patton grinned. “I saw you there at the end, you did really good.”
“Really?”
“Really. You were singing louder than anyone on stage!”
Roman bounced a little. “Yay!”
“Come on, kiddo, let’s go get Logan, then we can get a treat for you doing so good.”
“Okay!”
Remus walked up to Janus, which got Roman’s attention. He frowned as he realized that Janus was standing next to his dad, and he remembered what Remus had said earlier. He looked up at Patton and asked, “Are you and Remus’s dad dating?”
“I already told you so,” Remus said.
Patton glanced at Janus, then looked back at Roman and said, “We’ll talk about it after we get Logan, okay bud?”
“Okay.”
Janus walked a little closer to Patton and murmured, “You haven’t told him yet?” in his ear.
Patton shook his head. “I haven’t figured out how to bring it up yet.”
“Well, he brought it up for you.”
“Can we go get Logan now?” Roman asked.
Patton pulled away from Janus and smiled at Roman. “Yeah, let’s go.”
Roman started leading Patton to the car, and Patton barely caught the soft smile on Janus’s face as they walked out of the gym.
“How was chess club, Lo?” Patton asked as Logan got in the car.
“It was good.”
“Can we talk about it now?” Roman asked.
“We’ll talk at the ice cream place, how does that sound?”
“You said when we got Logan!”
“I said after we got Logan, I wanna be able to talk to you face to face, not when I’m driving.”
“Wait, what are we talking about?” Logan asked, looking between Patton and Roman.
“Remus said that his dad and our dad are dating when I was in class, and I told him that boys don’t date boys, but then Mr. Dorman came and said that it is okay for boys to date boys, but Dad said he didn't want to talk about dating Remus’s dad until we came and picked you up and now he’s saying he won’t talk about it until we go get ice cream.”
“Oh.”
Patton glanced in the rearview mirror at his boys. Roman looked grumpy, but it was obvious why. Logan looked a little confused, but Patton wasn’t sure if it was because of everything that Roman had just said, if it was because he wasn’t sure why Patton hadn’t told Roman yet, or if it was something else.
Patton pulled up to the ice cream parlor.
“Can we talk about it now? ” Roman asked.
“In a bit. Let’s get our ice cream and sit down first, okay kiddo?”
Roman grumbled a little as he went to unbuckle his seatbelt. “Okay.”
They got out of the car, got their ice cream, and found a little booth to sit in.
“We can talk about it now, right?” Roman asked.
“Yeah, kiddo.” Patton took a bite of his ice cream, then set his spoon down in the container. “So, you said that Remus told you that Mr. Mentiras and I are dating now, right?”
Roman nodded. “And I told him that boys don’t date boys, but Mr. Dorman said that they do.”
“Okay.” Patton picked his spoon back up and started pushing it into his ice cream over and over. Why was this so hard to say? “Well, uh… yes, Mr. Mentiras and I are dating.”
“Okay, cool.” Roman frowned a little. “Does that mean I have to be friends with Remus?”
“I’d like for you to at least be nice to him.”
Roman grimaced. “Blech.”
Patton laughed a little and took another bite of his ice cream. That definitely wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it would go.